Definition of "understandable" []

• Capable of being understood: an understandable sentence. (adjective)
• Expected or accepted under the circumstances: Their anger is understandable, given what happened. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Gen. Petraeus's use of the word "understandable" may have been used more in the sense of predictable, rather than justifiable."
• "Mr. Fitzpatrick said Mr. Grassley's scrutiny, which he described as understandable given the attention paid to potential conflicts of interest in medicine, had led his organization to begin posting on its Web site the names of companies that donate $5,000 or more."
• "That said, Heinlein’s politics were sometimes pretty despicable in ways which make the label understandable: he often treats women as nice-but-dim home-makers but then again, see the pilots in Starship Troopers; he admires ruthless capability and doesn’t have much time for pity or mercy; he’s a social darwinist or something close to it."